I bought and replaced the black and yellow printhead today. It printed some colored pages. Then when I began to print this evening a colored page. It stopped in the middle of printing and the printer screen says there is a problem with the yellow and black printhead. And their is a red X on the left of the screen, underneath had check ink levels. What does all this mean. I went in and checked the health of the printheads. IT says to replace my black/ and yellow printhead. However, I already did

OfficeJet 7880 Not Printing


A little more information would have been helpful in troubleshooting this problem. Did the printer ever work correctly? Did it just start printing yellow lines one day? Has it been out of use for a long time or, did you buy it in this condition. Also, is your computer a Windows PC or a Mac and which version of the OS are you using?


If you don\'t have the manual, you need to download one. I saw a link in a previous post or you can go to HP.com. The manual is crap as far as troubleshooting but it has all the part numbers of ink cartridges and printheads.


From the skimpy info you have supplied, I am going to assume there is something wrong in the ink supply system.


1. First you need to print a test page to find out if anything other than yellow can get to the paper. Find the HP Printer Utility. Again, not knowing what computer and OS you are using, I can\'t give you any explicit info. On Windows you might find something in Control Panels>Printer or under Programs you might find the HP Printer Utility. On a Mac maybe System Preferences>Printers or Go>Applications>HP Control Center.


2. If it only prints yellow boxes, or yellow boxes with streaks, you can run the Clean Printheads utility and reprint the test page. If you get more yellow or other colors start to show up, this indicates there\'s something wrong in the whole ink supply chain.


The HP 7xxx printers use the CYMK color system and have separate ink cartridges for each color: cyan, yellow, magenta, and black(K). In addition, the printheads are separate from the ink cartridges: yellow/black printhead and cyan/magenta printhead.


3. The problem could be in the ink cartridges or the printheads, or both. If the printer has been sitting for a long time, the ink will gel and clog up the whole system. Check the ink cartridges first. Are all four of them installed? Are they HP brand? Take them out one at a time, shake them and the reinstall them. Print another test page. Did anything change?


4. If more colors are printing, even with streaks, you should probably replace all the cartridges with GENUINE HP cartridges that are not expired. This could cost you $50-$60 on an eBay purchase but if you buy non-HP, or expired cartridges, you will not be a happy camper, long term. If you want to do this on the cheap, buy a black cartridge and see if you can at least start printing text. If you\'re making progress, you can buy the color cartridges later.


5. If replacing the cartridges fixed the problem, you\'re home relatively "free". If you have to replace either or both of the printheads, this can be expensive. They can run from $50-$100 each, so you\'ll have to make a decision on how much you want to spend on a printer that sold for $175 at Costco 6-7 years ago. Don\'t get me wrong, this is one of HP\'s better print engines but you will have to make an economic decision based on how much it\'s going to cost to bring this printer back to life. You can probably pick up a used 7xxx printer on Craigslist for $50-$75.


Hope this helps.

have you already replaced the ink of your black?..

If the yellow ink is not printing here's what you can do:

Clean the Printhead & Print a test page by doing the ff:

1. Press the Ink Management button press the Up or down arrow key to select Test Print, then select Print Quality press OK and press Black or Color START. Check all the colors including the black & check if there are any missing dots and if there are any colors not printing correctly.

2. Press the Ink Management button on the control panel and select cleaning press ok

3. Press the up or down arrow key to select Color press ok and press Black Start.

*After the cleaning process the printer will ask you if the quality is OK, press up or down to select yes or no, and it will ask you whether black or color is ok, once you have selected you're answer press Black or Color START to print another test page. Compare the 1st and 2nd test page if it's improving, you may need to do this 3-5 times or until you get a better quality

Hope this helps.

Rate if it worked Thanks!

Try printing a light stripes test page (Troubleshooting, print quality problems, troubleshooting print quality page).
If you have loads of missing jets, run a couple of head cleans, if you see improvement, it is worth running some more, if not, try switching off overnight and rebooting next day. If it still won't clear, you may have a faulty printhead.
If you do not appear to have many missing jets but the colours are all just wrong it may be that the ink has gone stale. Run a couple of head cleans and you should see the colours start to improve. If it is getting better, all you can do is keep running head cleans until you have replenished all the ink in the printhead well.
Hope this helps.

• make sure you are using inkjet papers as inkjet printers work on inkjet papers.
• Lift the printer access door, then remove the ink cartridges from the printhead.
• Insert the ink cartridges into the printhead, then press down firmly until you hear them click into position.
• Close the printer access door.
• Reprint the picture or document that had the quality problem.
• if still light prints then proceed further
• Print Test Page
• Review the printed test page and verify that:
• the left color blocks are gray, cyan, and black.
• the right color blocks are magenta, yellow, and black.
• each block is completely filled with color.
• If no---> Clean Printhead, the On/Off light flashes during the cleaning procedure.When the On/Off light glows steady, print test page again.
• If Yes---->The problem could be caused by the type of paper you are using.

check the printhead.... print a print quality page from the settings button select print reports then print that page. there is a printhead health area as well as color blocks if there is streaks in the black yellow blocks or says poor the black/yellow printhead needs to be replaced. if it says good call hp for further troubleshooting and possible replacement under warranty

If you print primarily black, your black/yellow printhead may have worn out and needs to be replaced. Go to start, printers and faxes, select the L7680 and then select properties. Print a test page and run the troubleshooter to clean the nozzles and lines. If it's not the nozzles or lines, search for C9381A on google and purchase a new printhead it should be about $70.

unable to print the paper

Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} Step two: Increase the print quality mode
If reprinting did not help, try increasing the print quality mode.
In the application you are printing from, click File, and then click Print. Make sure the printer is selected, and then click Properties.
Select the Paper/Quality tab. In the Print Quality area, choose the next higher quality setting. If the current setting is Draft, choose Normal. If the current setting is Normal, choose Best.
Step three: Print in grayscale (black area streaking only)
If the streaks are in a black area of a black and white printout, change to grayscale printing.
NOTE:- This step does not apply to color printouts.
In the application you are printing from, click File, and then click Print.
Make sure the printer is selected and click Properties.
Click the Color tab, and select Print Grayscale and High Quality.
Step four: Clean the printheads
If the print quality is still bad, clean the printheads.
Make sure the printer is loaded with unused white paper.
Open HP Solution Center.
Click Settings, Print Settings, and then select Printer Toolbox.
Click the Service Tab.
Click Clean Printhead, and then click Clean.
Step five: Align the printheads
If the print quality is still bad, align the printheads.
Make sure the printer is loaded with unused white paper.
Open the printer Toolbox, and select the Printer Services tab.
Click Align Printheads. The Align Printheads window opens. Click Align.
The printer prints an alignment page. The lines in the patterns should appear to be straight. Click OK when the page finishes printing.
Step six: Calibrate the linefeed
If the print quality is still bad, calibrate the linefeed:
Make sure the printer is loaded with unused white paper.
Open the printer Toolbox and select the Printer Services tab.
Click Calibrate Advanced Linefeed. The Advanced Linefeed Calibration window opens. Click OK .
Step seven: Replace one or both printheads
If the print quality is still bad after performing all the above steps, one or both of the printheads will have to be replaced. Print a PQ Diagnostic page to see which printhead should be replaced.
Make sure the printer is loaded with unused white paper.
Press the Setup button.
Press 1 and * simultaneously.
Look at the color blocks labeled Test Pattern 2. Some or all of them could show white horizontal streaks. If none of the blocks are streaked, the printheads are okay.
If the Black block has lines – replace the KY printhead.
If the Cyan block has lines – replace the MC Printhead.
If the Magenta block has lines – replace the MC Printhead.
If the Red block has lines – replace the KY printhead.
If the Green block has lines – replace the KY printhead.

Problem seems to be with your Ink Tank(s) or Printing Head. Replace both of them one by one and retry.